Three Google Executives Convicted in Disabled Boy Harassment Case

Failed in 2006 to prevent posting of video showing minor with Down’s syndrome being insulted and beaten by four students

MILAN – The court of Milan has convicted three Google executives charged with defamation and invasion of privacy for failing in 2006 to prevent publication on the search engine of a video that showed a boy with Down’s syndrome being insulted and beaten by four students at a Turin technical institute.

SENTENCES – All three defendants were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. The judge handed down suspended sentences of six months in jail to David Carl Drummond, the former chairman of Google Italy, now senior vice president, George De Los Reyes, a former director of Google, now retired, and Peter Fleischer, Google Inc’s privacy counsel for Europe. All three were found guilty of violation of privacy but acquitted of defamation. Google’s head of video for Europe, Arvind Desikan, who faced only the charge of defamation, was acquitted. The video of the disabled boy being harassed was filmed in May 2006 and then uploaded on 8 September to Google Video. It remained a popular item in the funny videos section until 7 November, when it was removed.

GROUNDS – “The right to conduct business cannot prevail over the dignity of the person”. According to assistant public prosecutor Alfredo Robledo, who was acting for the prosecution with public prosecutor Francesco Cajani, this is the significance of judge Oscar Magi’s ruling. He adds: “At last, a clear word has been spoken. At the heart of this trial was protection of the individual through protection of privacy. Everything else is beside the point. I am confident that this ruling will go out from the court of Milan and finally provoke discussion on an issue that is fundamental”.

FIRST CASE – The case that concluded today in the court of first instance, judge of the fourth penal section Oscar Magi presiding alone, is the first criminal action taken in Italy or elsewhere against Google managers for the publication of content on the web. The judge also ordered publication in summary of the sentence in the Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica and La Stampa.

COMPENSATION – No compensation was awarded to the two co-plaintiffs at the trial, the municipality of Milan and the Vividown association, as their claims were linked exclusively to the charges of defamation faced by the defendants. At earlier hearings, relatives of the disabled boy had withdrawn their action against the Google executives.

GOOGLE DEPLORES “ATTACK ON FREEDOM OF WEB” – “It is an attack on the fundamental principles of freedom on which Internet is built”, said Google’s spokesman, Marco Pancini. He added that it would be appealing “against a decision that we view as surprising, to say the least, since our colleagues had nothing to do with the video in question. They did not film it, they did not upload it and they did not see it”. According to Mr Pancini, the three executives have been held “penally responsible for illegal activities committed by third parties”. He said that during the proceedings, the three executives “had shown courage and dignity, since the very fact that they were put on trial is excessive”. Throughout the trial, Google has maintained that responsibility lies with whoever uploads a video to the web. For Mr Pancini, “if this principle is abandoned, there is no possibility of offering services on internet”.